Spring 2010 marks the sixteenth year we have published our Wine Gazette newsletter. And this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Hill Country Wine & Food Festival in Austin, which has become a major event in the Texas wine calendar. To mark that event from April 15 to 18, we have chosen wines from the winery owners and wine makers who will be attending the festival. Some of those wines can be found on pages 8 and 9 in this issue.

Just a month later, from May 12 to 16, the New World Wine and Food Festival celebrates its new dates in San Antonio: it’s moving from November to May to celebrate jointly the new Valero Texas Open at the world’s largest, just opened JW Marriott Resort & Spa. I urge you to visit their websites for much more information and what culinary and wine events are scheduled and how to obtain tickets.

Elsewhere in this issue, we focus on the vast range of wines appropriate for this season of renewal and re-birth. So we concentrate on fresh, fragrant whites from the world’s favorite grape varieties Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but also bring you tasting reports on Riesling, Vermentino, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris as well as the rare and exotic Arneis. And for Spring reds and rosés, look into our notes on the silky and delicate Pinot Noirs, Cabernet Francs, and Italian, French, and American rosés.

Cheers!

– Alan Dreeben